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Tuesday, April 7, 2015

Preschool Story Time - Earth Day!

Earth Day can be a great theme!! I was nervous about pulling this one off, but I received so many compliments on our songs and crafts that I just had to share. I was slow to blog this one, but I wanted to put up this post to give everyone ideas for this year's celebration.

Recycling is
Fun! - Ghigna

A sweet little book in a rhythmic verse, it introduces the concept of recycling and all the ways we can help the earth. There is even a recyclable craft idea in the back!

This is a darling book about a very loving bear and all of the creatures he loves to hug. His favorites are the trees. What will he do when he sees a forester ready to cut down one of trees?

The Garden Song:

This song was recorded by so many artists, but I found it recently on the album Peter, Paul and Mommy Too! It's really quite lovely. The hand motions make it easy to learn and fun for both the kids and their moms. I learned the hand motions from my colleague overseas when I worked in a Kindergarten classroom, so I do not know where the original motions come from or if she make them up.

OK, to be honest, I was going to record a video of the hand motions but just never got around to it. I think the stellar videologists at Jbrary need to do it because quite frankly, they rock! First I taught the motions and then we sang this a few times.

Inch by Inch (make inch fingers with pointer and thumbs on the words inch)

Row by Row (make a line with each hand on the word row)

Gonna Make this Garden Grow (wiggle fingers from below palms up 'growing')

All I need is a rake and a hoe (make a rake with one hand-fingers spread...and a hoe with another-fingers together, and pull back like you are raking or hoeing)

And a piece of fertile ground (spread hands out palms down like you are smoothing a blanket)

Inch by inch (inch fingers)

Row by row (make lines)

Someone bless these seeds I sow (bring hands together)

Someone warm them from below ‘til the rain comes tumbling down (wiggle from below on the first part and then make it 'rain' on the second part).

The Earth
Book—Parr

While not really a preschool book because there is only one sentence per page, this was a nice read with it's bright colorful artwork. My kids grew up on Todd's World when we were living overseas, and I remember they loved them. I read it slowly and allowed for discussion, and the kids seemed to like sharing their opinions.

Panda Bear,
Panda Bear, What do you see? - Carle

I think all children love the rhythm of this book, and all of the similar ones in print. This one however, is special to the Earth Day theme because all of the animals portrayed in this book are endangered. We talked about taking care of the animals just like the trees and earth.

Today's Craft - Recycling by making an I Spy bottle craft

As an Earth Day special, all of my crafts in April were made from recycled/recyclable materials. This was not lost on the moms who thought it was special that I did it that way. This week's edition is the I Spy bottle for back seat entertainment.

This is simply a recycled water or soda bottle with rice and little interesting things hidden inside. I glued the caps on so there was no chance of the rice getting out. Some ideas for things inside are:

*Colored
Sequin—round or shaped

*Colored or
glitter bead

*Pipe Cleaner

*Foam Letter
or Shape

*Fish

*Toy Ring

*Wood Bead

*Black Bean

*Colored
Pasta

*Toothpick

*Colored
Paper Clip

This is fun for a long ride or for a conversation piece. Kids just like rolling it and looking at everything. It was a fun craft to make and take! Click HERE for the blog I took the idea from - although I am not sure anyone claims the original idea. I hope you enjoyed this Earth Day special! Thanks for stopping by!